TF was hankering for chocolate cake and trying to resist the urge to order a slice when we were getting dinner the other night. I told her to skip ordering it and I'd make a chocolate cake while we were waiting for the order to arrive.

I spent a while browsing recipes and decided to roll with the bourbon-chocolate Bundt cake from the Dessert of the Day cookbook. Except that I didn't have any bourbon. So I opted to swap in some dark spiced rum instead. I'm pretty happy with the result, but I found the alcohol taste a little strong when the cake was still fresh. It has mellowed out over the last few days though and I like it better now.

I appreciate that this is an easy recipe to throw together. The batter is simple (and, as an added bonus, it used up a bunch of the sour cream that I had sitting in the fridge) and the "glaze" is basically just a dark chocolate ganache with a little corn syrup added for shine.

It's not a "favourite" chocolate cake for any of us to be sure. But it is a good one. And it's easy and convenient, so that definitely earns it some points!

Chocolate-Rum Bundt Cake

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

Cake

• 1 c. unsalted butter
• 125g dark chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 c. (55g) natural cocoa powder
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 3 large eggs
• 2 c. sugar
• 1 c. sour cream
• 3/4 c. dark spiced rum
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract¹

Icing

• 125g dark chocolate, chopped
• 1/4 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 2 Tbsp. corn syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 10-cup Bundt pan.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate for the cake over medium heat, whisking until smooth.
3. Remove from heat and mix in the cocoa. Set aside and allow to cool.
4. In a separate bowl, sift the baking soda into the flour and mix in the salt.
5. In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar on medium speed until lightened in both texture and colour.
6. Reduce speed to low and beat in the sour cream, bourbon, and vanilla.
7. Beat in the chocolate mixture.
8. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Be sure to give a final stir by hand.
9. Pour batter into prepared pan.
10. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 45-55 minutes.
11. Allow to cool in pan for 5-10 minutes.
12. Turn out onto wire rack to cool.
13. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and cream for the icing over medium-low heat, whisking until smooth.
14. Mix in the corn syrup and vanilla and set aside to cool.
15. Once cake and icing are both at least mostly cooled (room temperature or slightly above), place the cake (still on the wire rack) on a rimmed baking sheet and pour the icing over, allowing it to drip down the sides as desired.
16. Allow icing to set and cool a little more before cutting.
17. Serve alone or with strawberries and whipped cream.

¹ I ran out of vanilla extract, so I ended up using ~3/4 tsp. of extract plus the paste/seeds from half a vanilla bean. ^Back